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petercaine
08-11-2010, 06:20 PM
are there any edible invertbrates (crustaceans, shellfish) that will live in with cold water fish (in relative harmony) or perhaps downstream (in a seperate tank before biofilters).
Do they have different demands?
Cheers

badflash
08-11-2010, 07:15 PM
P. clarkii AKA Red Swamp Crayfish can be kept in the same water, but must be spearated from the fish. It is not economically viable unless you are raising them for pets where they bring $5-$10 each as to 20-30 cents as food.

jcx
02-24-2011, 11:19 PM
I'm just guessing here but fresh water clams seem like they could work in aquaponics. In a fish tank they are hard to keep due to lack of food for a filter feeder.

Also check out the self cloning crayfish (Procambarus Marmorkrebs), Not sure if you can eat them but I had to pay 25 bucks for mine and they pop out 20 to 200 clones based on age every 20 to 40 days.

badflash
02-25-2011, 08:45 AM
They didn't do well with the nitrate levels needed for tilapia. I'm now working with cherax quads (red claws). They seem to be a better fit.

JCO
02-25-2011, 10:41 AM
I've got an 8" male Red Claw living by hiself in the biofilter of my 75 gal freshwater Angel fish tank. I feed him a little extra pellets every 2 or 3 days and he is doing fine. The female is in a 20 gal tank with trash guppies. Hopefully this year I can play match maker and crank out some little ones :mrgreen:

passionforproduce
04-18-2011, 08:50 AM
Anyone using grass (also known as ghost or glass) shrimp in their raft tanks to clean up detritus and add more nutrients?

urbanfarmer
04-18-2011, 10:45 AM
I have worms and fresh water snails in my grow bed. Every drain cycle the fish will crowd around the water coming out and pick at the poor souls that got washed out to sea...

badflash
04-18-2011, 02:17 PM
Anyone using grass (also known as ghost or glass) shrimp in their raft tanks to clean up detritus and add more nutrients?

They don't do well with most fish that simply gobble them up. The zoes (larvae) get picked off or trapped in the grow beds. They really need a separate system. They are well suited for ponds, but not so good for aquaponics.

urbanfarmer
04-18-2011, 03:00 PM
They don't do well with most fish that simply gobble them up. The zoes (larvae) get picked off or trapped in the grow beds. They really need a separate system. They are well suited for ponds, but not so good for aquaponics.
Would the bottom of say a floating raft system, with slow trickling water be good for them? That way they have a separate tank, access to the same water, and hopefully not too much water flow to bother them?

JCO
04-18-2011, 06:45 PM
A raft system water flow should be considerably more than a trickle in order to eliminate dead zones of oxygen and nutrients around the root of the plants in addition to preventing sediment from settling on the roots and causing root rot. :mrgreen:

badflash
04-19-2011, 02:16 PM
The other issue is ghost shrimp need shelter and the zoes need floating plants and micro organizms to grow.

15mules
07-17-2013, 04:23 PM
There are people operating DWR systems, which are using Gammurus or scud shrimp or whatever you want to call them?? in the DWR systems to clean up the dead matter and debris that settles in the troughs, now these are larger home systems with minimum 8' length troughs 4' wide, some as long as 75' in length and a 5 gpm water flow. I have visited with a man who actually said, at first he was trying to shake the gammurus from the plant roots and wash them off back into the AP water, but then he realized they were just everywhere in his system, now he just removes the plants and does not try to save any, as he said they multiply so well it is not needed. I am not sure how they would do in a small hobby system? The previous post's may be 100% correct that thy would not work well if the conditions were different than I described?

JCO
07-19-2013, 06:21 PM
As long as there is a place for them to hide from preditors and something for them to eat, the size of the system doesn't matter although, naturally...the larger the system...the larger the population. :mrgreen:

15mules
07-20-2013, 05:37 AM
SO, what you are saying is they are alot like people??

JCO
07-20-2013, 07:04 AM
Yep, the females are even bigger than the males and always on their backs. :mrgreen: